This invention relates generally to electrical connectors and more particularly to electrical connectors having arrays of contact pins that are filtered and to filters for such connectors.
The use of electronic computers and control devices in automotive vehicles increases each year. The number of such devices used in each vehicle increases as well as the complexity of the devices that are used. Hence there is need for electrical connectors for attaching wiring harnesses to the electronic computers and control devices that include electric filters to eliminate unwanted electrical signals and electromagnetic shields to eliminate or at least reduce electomagnetic interference that can cause cross talk between the various electronic devices.
A type of electric filter has been proposed that uses a flexible printed circuit with electric filter devices such as capacitors that are surface mounted on solder tabs of the flexible print circuit using well known soldering techniques. However, this type of filter has a drawback in that it is very difficult to establish electrical connections between the electric filter and the contact pins that extend through the flexible printed circuit because of the thinness of the flexible printed circuit.
The object of this invention is to provide a filtered electrical connector and electric filter therefor that uses a hardboard printed circuit that has a substantial thickness so that electrical connections between contact pins and the electric filter can be made easily using conventional soldering techniques.
A feature of the invention is that the filtered electrical connector and electric filter of the invention has a unique base and particular orientation of the electric filter devices on the base to enhance the integrity of the solder connections between the electric filter devices and conductive traces of the base.
Another feature of the invention is that the filtered electrical connector and electric filter of the invention has a filter base that includes a substrate with anistropic thermal expansion properties to reduce the effects of differential thermal expansion between the base and the electric filter devices that are connected to the base.
Still another feature of the invention is that the filtered electrical connector and electric filter of the invention has a filter base that is grounded easily.
Yet another feature of the invention is that the filtered electrical connector and electric filter of the invention has a filter base that accommodates a ferrite filter in a unique way.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.